Mapping Out A Strategy for Meeting NCLB Requirements

1
Mapping Out A Strategy for Meeting NCLB
Requirements

• Marilyn Savarese Muirhead
• Region III Comprehensive Center
• Center for Equity and Excellence in Education The
  George Washington University

2
Presentation Overview

• A brief overview of NCLB Title I accountability
  requirements, and
• A discussion about three elements that will
  enable strategic planning for technical
  assistance to schools in need of improvement
• Data driven decision-making
• Research based strategies
• Highly qualified professionals

3
Title I Accountability Requires

• States to develop and implement a single
  state-wide accountability system to ensure that
• all districts and schools make adequate yearly
  progress (AYP) and
• hold districts and schools accountable that do
  not make AYP

4
Title I Accountability Requirements

• Adequate Yearly Progress (AYP) states establish a
  definition of AYP that each district and school
  are expected to meet.
• Identification of Schools Districts in Need of
  Improvement after failure to make AYP for two
  consecutive years.
• Public School Choice for students in schools
  identified as in need of improvement.

5
Title I Accountability Requirements

• Professional Development in schools in need of
  improvement must be
• funded with at least 10 of Title I Part A funds
  and
• directly addresses the academic achievement
  problem that caused the school to be identified

6
Title I Accountability Requirements

• Supplemental Educational Services in schools who
  have failed to make AYP for four years and are in
  the 2nd year of school improvement.
• Funds for Transportation Supplemental Services
  equal to 20 of a districts Title I Part A funds
  must be used for School Choice and SES based on
  demand or need.

7
Title I Accountability Requirements

• Corrective Action if a school fails to make AYP
  for 4 years and is in its 3rd year of school
  improvement.

8
Corrective Action

• The school district must take actions that
  include at least one of the following
• Replacing school staff
• Implementing a new curriculum
• Decreasing management authority at the school
  level
• Appointing an outside expert to advise the school
• Extending the school day or year or reorganizing
  the school internally

9
Title I Accountability Requirements

• Restructuring occurs if a school fails to make
  AYP for a 5th year and is in its 4th year of
  school improvement. The district must initiate
  plans for restructuring by
• reopening the school as a Charter School, or
• replacing all or most of the school staff, or
• turning over operations of the school to the
  state or a private company with a demonstrated
  record of effectiveness

10
Identifying Schools in Need of Improvement
Presently, 211 schools in 65-70 districts have
reached this stage
   Note A School Improvement Plan is not
required by NCLB after the 3rd year of school
improvement status. However, school-wide and CSRD
programs are required to submit yearly plans,
which can be aligned with an ongoing school
improvement plan.   As the table shows, schools
that have been identified for not making AYP for
two consecutive years must complete a
comprehensive school improvement plan, along
with offering choice (and supplemental education
services after three years). NCLB requires
districts to support schools that have been
identified for improvement in implementing the
policy, therefore, districts must be able to
provide leadership and guidance for schools in
engaging in the continuous improvement process.
11
Title I Accountability Requirements

• Technical Assistance must be provided by the
  district to schools identified for
• School improvement
• Corrective action, or
• Restructuring

12
Title I Accountability Requirements

• School District Report Cards must be prepared and
  disseminated annually. Information should
  include
• Student achievement results for the district and
  each school within the district
• Disaggregated by student sub-groups, and
• Provide information on school identified for
  improvement (Prepared by NJ DOE

13
AYP Targets
14
Strategic Planning

• Where do I begin to look in order to make data
  driven decisions?
• Begin by looking at the state printouts for
  student achievement results to determine where
  your district is in relation to each starting
  point.

15
Strategic Planning Data Driven Decision-Making

• First examine your districts results in the
  aggregate
• If 70 of Grade 4 students across the district
  are proficient on the LAL assessment you have met
  and exceeded the starting point Great!

16
Strategic Planning Data Driven Decision-Making

• Then look at the disaggregated data by sub-group
• Race 68
• Ethnicity 69
• Special Education 20
• Limited English Proficient 69

17
Strategic Planning Data Driven Decision-Making

• If one sub-group isnt meeting the target you
  will need to determine
• Is it only special education students in one
  school in the district? OR
• Is it special education students in multiple
  schools in the district?

18
Strategic Planning

• Answers to these questions will determine the
  type of technical assistance you will provide
• Targeted to one school or
• Multiple Schools

19
Strategic Planning Setting Objectives

• Before we talk about the technical assistance
  and/or professional development aspects lets
  talk about setting realistic objectives
• Look again at the example about not meeting
  starting point for the special education
  sub-group
• Special Education 20
• It would be unrealistic to set an objective that
  is too high

20
Strategic Planning Setting Objectives

• For example, an objective stating that
• 75 of special education students in the 4th
  grade will be proficient on the 4th grade
  assessment
• Is probably unrealistic!
• It is more realistic to set the objective at 28
  because
• 28 represents a Safe Harbor target

21
Strategic Planning Data Driven Decision-Making

• Go back to our original scenario
• The district has scored well in the aggregate
• 70 of 4th grade students throughout the district
  are proficient on the state assessment
• However, when the data is disaggregated by
  student sub-groups, only 20 of special education
  students in the 4th grade are proficient on the
  state reading assessment

22
Strategic Planning Data Driven Decision-Making

• How do I know what kind of technical assistance
  to provide?
• You will have to dig deeper to answer this
  question. For example,
• Is it only one school in the district failing to
  meet the starting point ? OR
• Is it multiple schools in the district?

23
Strategic Planning Data Driven
Decision-Making/Broad Questions

• If its only one school, assistance would be
  targeted to the school. Some questions you may
  ask are
• Is the instruction that is being delivered to
  students aligned to curricula?
• If the school has a WSR/CSR model, does the model
  adapt the curriculum to the needs of special
  education students?

24
Strategic Planning Data Driven
Decision-Making/Broad Questions

• On the other hand, if special education students
  across the district are below starting point,
  this is probably indicative of a district-wide
  problem. Questions you may need to ask are
• Is the curriculum aligned to standards and
  adapted to the needs of special education
  students?
• Is instruction aligned to the curriculum and
  adapted to the needs of special education
  students?
• Do teachers have the knowledge and skills to
  differentiate instruction?

25
Strategic Planning Data Driven
Decision-Making/Digging Deeper

• Since special education students are failing in
  reading, lets look at the research based
  components in the National Reading Panel Report
• Are all components explicitly addressed in
  curriculum and instruction?
• Are there on-going assessments that allow
  teachers to modify and differentiate instruction
  based on student need?

26
Strategic Planning Data Driven
Decision-Making/Digging Deeper

• Are teachers knowledge and skills adequate to
  teach reading?

27
Strategic Planning Research Based Strategies

• Refer to research-based instructional programs
  such as NRP reading components
• Phonemic awareness
• Phonics
• Fluency
• Vocabulary
• Comprehension

28
Strategic Planning Research Based Strategies

• Or strategies that increase time on task for
  lowest performing students in targeted assistance
  programs such as
• Extended day before or after school
• Extended year summer school

29
Strategic Planning Highly Qualified Professionals

• Although the state will be addressing pre-service
  issues relating to highly qualified professionals
  e.g., certification, alternate route, and college
  programs
• At the district level this will be addressed
  through professional development that is
• Targeted to the specific academic need that
  causes a school to be identified
• Research-based

30
Strategic Planning Highly Qualified Professionals

• Is job embedded
• Teacher study groups
• Coaching
• Designing classroom assessments aligned to
  standards/curriculum

31
Adequate Yearly Progress

• The starting point percentages for AYP in New
  Jersey are
• Grade 4 LAL 68 MATH 53
• Grade 8 LAL 58 MATH 39
• Grade 11 LAL 73 MATH 55